Ifm THE CULTIVATOR. 
rits of all new implements of husbandry, offered for 
their inspection—and upon which the board might 
be authorized to award discretionary premiums, where 
the articles should be judged highly meritorious—and 
thereby giving them a character upon which the pub¬ 
lic might rely. And, 
Last in order, though perhaps first in importance, 
a Board of Agriculture might write, compile, or pro¬ 
cure to be written, and printed, books upon agricul¬ 
ture, the veterinary art, orcharding, gardening, ru¬ 
ral embellishment and household economy, suitable 
for the common school libraries of an agricultural po¬ 
pulation. 
In the several duties above enumerated a Board 
of Agriculture would do much good. Such a board 
has been eminently useful in Great Britain. Such 
virtually, in France, is the Royal Central Society of 
Agriculture—its premiums, and its laboring mem¬ 
bers, being paid from the public treasury. 
The great question with many will be,—not what 
will be its ultimate benefit—but what will be the cost? 
The man who plants an apple tree, does not expect 
an immediate return for his outlay. He knows that 
he has to wait years for his remuneration ; but he 
knows it will come ; and that when it begins to come 
it will go on progressively increasing in profit, till 
he lias returned to him his fifty or his hundred fold. 
So it is with expendiiures for improving agriculture; 
the returns, though not immediate, are progressive 
and certain. The cost of a Board of Agriculture, 
however, will depend much upon what they are al¬ 
lowed by law to expend. Their pay and expenses 
would probably not equal the pay of many individual 
inspectors and other officers under the government; 
and would hardly amount to a tenth of the expense 
wasted last winter, in the boyish struggle in our 
legislature—to get credit to parly for a short 
session. 
An agricultural museum would be a matter of no 
great expense, but one of manifest utility. It would 
be taken care of by the secretary, with perhaps oc¬ 
casional assistance. Geological specimens might be 
furnished from the collections made by our geologi¬ 
cal corps. Models of agricultural implements might 
be required from the patentees or proprietors who 
exhibit them for inspection. Books would accumu¬ 
late as donations; and portraits of choice animals 
would be presented by breeders, as a matter of inter¬ 
est. Specimens of agricultural products, and seeds 
of rare vegetables, would be tendered by our farmers, 
from motives of pride as well as of public usefulness. 
Foreign seeds and agricultural curiosities would be 
collected by our citizens travelling abroad, and by 
those engaged in foreign commerce. Every citizen 
would feel disposed to add to the collection whatever 
might be useful or curious of the productions of the 
soil. The hall would become an agricultural news¬ 
room—a central point of resort for citizens and stran¬ 
gers, who wished to acquire information, or should be 
desirous to communicate it, on the all-important bu¬ 
siness of agriculture. It would also afford an appro¬ 
priate place for lecturing upon practical agriculture ; 
and upon the sciences connected with its improve¬ 
ment, in the winter months—subjects which may yet 
become as popular and useful as phrenology and ani¬ 
mal magnetism. 
The Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland, to 
which we may safely refer for models of usefulness, 
is erecting a magnificent hall, at an expense of near¬ 
ly 30,000 dollars, to serve as an agricultural museum. 
In this are to be deposited models of all known agri¬ 
cultural implements and agricultural machinery—an 
assortment of seeds, grains and grasses adapted for 
British culture—specimens of various kinds of timbers 
produced by forest trees—a collection of insects and 
grubs known as inimical to trees and plants—sam¬ 
ples of dyes derived from native shrubs, with speci¬ 
mens of shrubs themselves—specimens of minerals, 
ores and rocks existing in Scotland, and adapted for 
useful purposes—original maps and surveys, explain¬ 
ing the geological structure of different countries, and 
showing where coal, lime, iron, stone, and other va¬ 
luable mineral products abound—models and portraits 
of different varieties of stock, of the most approved 
breeds, showing their respective points and charac¬ 
ters, &c. &c. Such a museum, we believe no one 
will deny, would be of value to any state, 
Gov. Seward/s Message. 
It is neither our province nor intention to take no¬ 
tice of this able state paper, further than it relates to 
education and to agriculture, two subjects which, 
however seldom associated in the public mind, are 
nevertheless intimately connected, in what best pro¬ 
motes the great interests of our republican institulions. 
Education in the higher branches of knowledge, includ¬ 
ing natural science, and the application of the principles 
of the latter to productive labor, would multiply the 
legitimate sources of our wealth, and raise the agri¬ 
cultural class, in intelligence and in spirit, to the ele¬ 
vated rank assigned to them in our political charter, 
and which the safety of the republic requires they 
should occupy. This class once enlightened, would 
know how to appreciate the advantages of education; 
and having the means and the disposition, would take 
care to provide liberally for the education of their 
children. 
The governor well remarks, that crime decreases 
as useful knowledge is disseminated. There are 
abundant statistical facts, to verify this remark. By 
useful knowledge, we mean particularly, that know¬ 
ledge which incites to, and augments the fruits of, 
productive industry—that knowledge which gives to 
the possessor ample power, not only reputably to 
provide for himself, but to administer to the wants of 
others, and to advance general improvement in the 
condition of the human family. 
“ The standard of education,” says the Message, 
“ought to be elevated not merely to that which other 
states or nations have attained, but to that height which 
may be reached by cultivation of the intellectual pow¬ 
ers, with all the facilities of modern improvements, du¬ 
ring the entire period when the faculties are quick and 
active, the curiosity insatiable, the temper practicable, 
and the love of truth supreme. The ability to read and 
write, with the rudiments of arithmetic, generally con¬ 
stitute the learning acquired in common schools. To 
these our colleges and academies add superficial in¬ 
struction in the dead languages, without the philosophy of 
our own; scientific facts, without their causes; defini¬ 
tions, without practical application; the rules of rheto¬ 
ric, without its spirit; and history, divested of its moral 
instructions. It is enough to show the defectiveness of 
our entire system, that its pursuits are irksome to ail 
except the few endowed with peculiar genius and fervor 
to become the guides of the human mind, and that it 
fails to inspire either a love of science or passion for 
literature. 
“ Science is nothing else than a disclosure of the boun¬ 
ties the Creator has bestowed to promote the happiness 
of man, and a discovery of the laws by which mind and 
matter are controlled for that benignant end. Litera¬ 
ture has no other object than to relieve our cares and 
elevate our virtues. That the pursuits of either should 
require monastic seclusion, or be enforced by pains and 
penalties upon reluctant minds, is inconsistent with the 
generous purposes of both. Society cannot be justlj 
censured for indifference to education, when those who 
enjoy its precious advantages manifest so little of the 
enthusiasm it ought to inspire. All the associations of 
the youthful mind, in the acquisition of useful know¬ 
ledge, must be cheerful; its truths should be presented 
in their native beauty and in their natural order; the 
laws it reveals should be illustrated always by their be¬ 
nevolent adaptation to the happiness of mankind; and 
the utility and beauty of what is already known should 
incite to the endless investigation of what remains con¬ 
cealed. If education could be. conducted upon princi¬ 
ples like these, the attainments of our collegiate instruc¬ 
tion might become the ordinary acquirement in our com¬ 
mon schools ; and our academies and colleges would be 
continually enjoying new revelations of that philosophy 
which enlightens the way, and attaining higher perfec¬ 
tion in the arts w'hich alleviate the cares of human life.” 
We are here urged to raise the standard of edu¬ 
cation ; we are admonished ot the insufficiency of our 
colleges and academies in teaching what is most use¬ 
ful in the important business affairs of life; and we 
are told, that under a proper system of education, all 
the useful attainments of college instruction, might 
become the ordinary acquirement in our common 
schools. 
The great source of the evil here complained of, 
we apprehend, is to be found in a vitiated public taste, 
formed too much after the fashion of the old conti¬ 
nent—a predilection for what is showy, and superfi¬ 
cial and transitory—in preference to that which is 
useful and substantial. With us, “ merit should 
make the man, and want of it the fellow.” Yet such 
is the homage we are accustomed to pay to a fine ex¬ 
terior, to polished manners, and to professional and 
mercantile pursuits, that the farmer or mechanic, 
seeks these professions and employments for his son, 
as the surest means of giving him fame and fortune, 
and in the hope, too, often, of sharing himself in 
the anticipated distinction of the boy. Hence, 
in subserviency to the public taste, is the inutili¬ 
ty of our higher schools of instruction to the use¬ 
ful branches of industry. “I am ashamed,” says 
Prof. Gordon, of Clinton College, “that so little of 
our boasted learning is practical—tamed—domesti¬ 
cated, and familiarized to the avocations of men.— 
When the young man graduates with honor, he is 
then unfit for any occupation—he has still to learn 
his profession. Whereas, the college, or university, 
ought to fit young men at once for the occupations 
they are to follow.” The plan of the professor might 
be carried out, with facility, in the great business of 
agriculture, and the time and expense of the novici¬ 
ate of life greatly lessened. A school of agriculture 
would teach his head knowledge, and his hands labor, 
at the same time, without impairing the value of ei¬ 
ther branch of instruction. Give him the “ scientific 
facts” of the college, and he would explain “their 
causes,” and demonstrate their effects and their uti¬ 
lity in field practice. Give him the literary polish of 
the higher schools, and you would fit him for the civil 
duties of life. And give him, superadded to his sci¬ 
entific and literary teachings, a practical knowledge 
of the best modes of farming, and he comes forth from 
the school, highly qualified for usefulness—for head- 
work or hand-work, conjointly or separately. He 
will have no occasion to be ashamed of his profession, 
or to seek the bar or the counter, or to peddle pills or 
politics, to become respectable and respected. 
“We seem at last,” says Gov. Seward, “to have 
ascertained the only practicable manner of introduc¬ 
ing normal schools into our country. It is by engraft¬ 
ing that system upon our academies.” 
We are sorry to question the correctness of this 
conclusion. We are afraid that but few, very few, 
of the young men who are participating in the public 
bounty in our academies, will be disposed to follow 
the humble business of teaching, longer than to ac¬ 
quire the means, or until an opportunity presents, of 
embarking in a more lucrative employment. The 
academy is considered a sort of stepping stone to the 
liberal professions ; and we doubt whether those who 
are set apart for teachers can divest themselves of the 
predilections of the school. 
We have another cause of doubt. From the cha¬ 
racter his excellency has given us of our academic 
studies, we are obliged to doubt the competency of 
these normal schools to qualify teachers for instruct¬ 
ing a rural—an agricultural population. We beg not 
to be misunderstood. Academies may be considered 
purely literary institutions. They teach little more 
than ordinary schools, that concerns rural economy, 
or the arts of productive labor. Now it is a conced¬ 
ed truth, that boys should be taught what they are 
to practice when men. A vast portion of our male 
children are destined for agriculture and the arts, and 
under proper teachers, might acquire much elemen¬ 
tary knowledge in their future business. Will the 
pupils from our existing normal schools possess either 
tlie disposition or ability to impart to them this preli¬ 
minary, but very useful instruction ? So far as our 
knowledge goes, no normal schools have yet proved 
successful, but such as have been exclusively devoted 
to the instruction of teachers; and in most cases 
where they have proved successful, we believe, the 
pupils have been instructed, in a greater or less de¬ 
gree, in the principles and practice of agriculture- 
qualifications considered useful, if not essential, in the 
teachers of a rural population. Normal, like agricul¬ 
tural instruction, holds but a secondary grade, when 
connected with literary schools ; and the inferior will 
always be made subservient to the higher study. 
The allusion, in the message, to the promised utili¬ 
ty of common school libraries, is forcible and concise; 
and we hope the request to the legislature, to give its 
“co-operation in the beginning of this wise and mo- 
mentuus policy,” will be promptly complied with. 
“For the evil of our whole system,” concludes Gov. 
S. on this subject, “ there is a remedy, simple, econo¬ 
mical and effectual—the establishment of a department 
of education, to be constituted of a superintendent ap¬ 
pointed by the legislature, and a board to be compos¬ 
ed of delegates from subordinate boards of education 
to be established in the several counties. The state 
board might exercise a general supervision, Avith pow¬ 
ers of visitation of the colleges, and the county boards 
the same powers in their respective counties. The du¬ 
ties of all these officers, except the superintendent, 
ought to be discharged without compensation, and the 
tenure of office might be made so long as to secure ef¬ 
ficiency. I am satisfied the state abounds Avith compe¬ 
tent individuals who would assume those duties without 
other remuneration than the consciousness of rendering 
enlightened and patriotic service in the cause of educa¬ 
tion.” 
Boards of Education have been established in some 
of the neighboring states, and the one in Massachu¬ 
setts, in particular, has already had a highly salutary 
influence towards improving her system of public edu¬ 
cation. 
We extract belotv all of the message which relates 
directly to agriculture, and shall reserve our remarks 
upon it to a future occasion. It forcibly impresses 
upon the consideration of the legislature, the impor¬ 
tance of providing for the improvement of this prima¬ 
ry, but too much neglected art. 
“ The science which involves the physical laAvs most 
open to our investigation, and to Avhieh the primeval 
law of our existence compels us, and the art which 
precedes all other inventions, and whose cultivation 
leads to plenty, and is cheered by health and content¬ 
ment, are the last Avhieh receive the patronage of phy- 
losophy, or attain the favor of government. Mankind 
learned the distances and laAvs of planets, and even the 
periods of comets, before they conceived the mysteries 
of vegetation; and the fine arts were perfected in ages 
when agriculture, loaded with the superstition of cen¬ 
turies, was consigned to slates. That this should have 
been the experience of other ages and other countries 
is easily explained. The powers of government have 
always been vested in classes or individuals farthest re¬ 
moved from the tillers of the soil ; and ambition and 
